


Windchill

by UbiquitousSpontaneities



Series: There's a (few) new Link(s) in this chain! [4]
Category: Linked Universe - Fandom, The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms
Genre: Banter, Brotherly Bonding, Downfall Boys, Fluff, Gen, Linked Universe (Legend of Zelda), been sitting in my wips since december, figured i'd post it, just some good ol legend and hyrule fluff, these are a lot more common now huh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-30
Updated: 2020-09-30
Packaged: 2021-03-07 18:48:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,604
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26722432
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UbiquitousSpontaneities/pseuds/UbiquitousSpontaneities
Summary: You know, it was just his luck that they'd get thewonderfulopportunity to spend another miserable day out in the snow. Karma, right? Legend would give anything for the Rod of Seasons right now.-Or, yet another Hyrule and Legend bonding fic. What can I say, they're good lads, even almost a year since I wrote this.
Relationships: Hyrule & Legend (Linked Universe)
Series: There's a (few) new Link(s) in this chain! [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1445728
Comments: 6
Kudos: 65





	Windchill

**Author's Note:**

> hiya! sorry i haven't posted anything since,,, june. but i'm back with a short one for you all, college apps + school have been kicking my ass and my latent sonic obsession has made itself _very_ active recently with the new comics, so i don't expect my productivity to kick back up until at least december (sorry), aside from maybe a few things for other fandoms. this lovely little fic has been floundering in the wips folder since a botched secret santa last year, but i'm proud of it and we all need some harmless chilling-out sometimes >:3  
> thank you all for your support and i hope you enjoy!
> 
> (slightly outdated regarding the portals and stuff that's been revealed in the comic since i've written this)

“Just our luck, isn’t it.” 

But Hyrule can’t bring himself to care much about Legend’s groaning when the world around them looks as beautiful as it does. He stares at the scene in wonder, the snow frosting the tops of the trees and hanging in the air. The chill seems to have frozen the light snowfall in midair, the world on pause to appreciate the serenity. It’s the kind of cold that winds the rest of the world to a halt, the animals quieting, the plants slouching, and the heroes- well, a particular hero grumbling.

“ _Of course_ we get to shift right after splitting up. I mean, what else did I expect?” With a rough shake, Legend brushes off the small clumps that have affixed themselves to his tunic. Hyrule shivers a bit, turning back to Legend with eyes shining. 

“You didn’t tell me it looked this pretty,” he says, nudging Legend’s arm. Legend gave him a look as he wrung his hat out. 

“Yeah, it’s also as cold as a _krifagen_ Freezor out here, so don’t get your hopes up.” Between his Hyrule’s proximity to Death Mountain and a much more temperate climate, compared to the others, that is, it rarely got cold enough for snow in his era. And the few times it did, it didn’t last long before it was reduced to grimy patches of half-melted sludge, much to his disappointment.

But this, this was quite easily one of the most beautiful things he’d seen. And he could almost ignore the temperature enough to enjoy it. 

“Alright snow princess, get over here before you freeze to death,” Legend’s bemusement is not lost on Hyrule as he sticks his tongue out in lieu of an answer. Legend brandishes his fire rod in his off hand, and digs a mostly-dry stick out of the snowbank behind them. He winces a bit as he attempts to light it. Hyrule frowns. 

“You okay?” 

“Yeah, ‘m fine. Oh, what I wouldn’t give for the Rod of Seasons right now…” Legend trails off, absentmindedly rubbing his elbow. “And- there.” He moves to hand the makeshift torch to Hyrule, but nodded when he showed him his own lantern. “Just my fucking luck,” he mutters once more, passing the items off as he rummaged through his pack. 

Hyrule laughs, balancing the three brightly lit fire hazards as Legend emerged triumphantly from his bag with a spare tunic. He shrugs it on, and Hyrule passes back their precious heat sources as the bite of the chill creeps into his nostrils and down his spine. He shivers again, only to find himself smacked in the face with another of Legend’s shirts. 

“Put that on, I know you don’t have any other layers, and this is the best we’re gonna get until we figure out where in Din’s name Wild ended up.”

“I do- oh wait. Yeah, I don’t. Thanks.” 

The moment of awe gone, Hyrule quickly realizes that yes, it is extremely cold, and yes, they _are_ completely and entirely lost. This very quickly proves to be a problem, as mere moments later a surprisingly well aimed arrow lodges itself quite firmly in the back of Hyrule’s leg.

He hisses in pain for a moment, fumbling for his sword as he turned. He goes to take a step out of the small circle of trees they had found themselves in, only to stumble, leg muscles protesting. It’s a group of monsters - Hyrule doesn’t have time to identify them before he drops several feet into the snow. 

He’s stuck, and the cold does nothing to lessen the pain in his leg. 

Luckily, only a few moments later Legend’s peering down at him. Breathless, he reaches down to help him up, wincing once again. Hyrule gives him a look, but the impact is lessened by his own wince a second later. 

“How did you- ?” He turns to see the last remnants of a few of what he thinks are Warriors’ bokoblins - he was always getting those ones mixed up - sinking into the snow. 

“Pegasus Boots,” Legend gestures, “If you run fast enough you won’t sink in.”

“Hmm. Well, what are we supposed to do now?” Hyrule says, looking over his shoulder at his wound. “Usually we would get to a vantage point which is…” He trails off turning slowly to survey their surroundings. It seems like they’re already on a mountain, but there’s a taller outcropping just a bit away- 

“Oh of course it’s across the practically impassable snow field. Of course.” 

“Just our fucking luck,” Legend mutters once again.

“Would you stop saying that?” Hyrule elbows him again. “There’s got to be some way for us to get across.” His injury isn't that bad, but there’s no way he’s walking properly anytime soon, at least not without some kind of treatment. And he’s fairly certain that taking the time to do so now would be a death sentence, considering he’s just short of the magic required to cast Life…

“You’re too heavy for me to carry, at least without losing the ability to steer.” Legend seems stumped for a bit, before Hyrule’s eyes lit up. 

“I may have an idea.”

* * *

When Legend woke up that morning, the absolute last thing he had been expecting to do that day was - well, he didn’t quite know how to describe this. Whatever _this_ was. 

But hey, it worked in a pinch, and pinched they were. 

And so, somehow, Legend finds himself sprinting full force across a minefield of winter wonderland, Hyrule desperately clinging to his tunic. His glow twinkles in the corner of his eye as the two booked it towards the faint outline of a cave. 

“I,” Hyrule pants, “don’t know how this is working! But-”

He yelps, cut off by a rather unceremonious, and in Legend’s opinion, very inconsiderate, boulder flying their way. In the nick of time, Legend dodges. 

“ _You jinxed it!”_ Legend hisses, out of breath through the slightly panicked laughter. For a second, he stumbles, pitching forward over a branch hidden in the ocean of snow, but he rights himself shortly, Hyrule scrambling to keep his hold. 

After a few more frantic seconds of dodging wayward boulders and a few trees’ misplaced limbs, the two grind rather violently to a stop, mere feet from the cliff face before them. Unluckily for Hyrule, the force is enough to send him rocketing off Legend’s shoulder and into the solid rock before them. 

Legend winces, and helps the tiny figure up before surveying the frosted landscape. “You good?” he asks.

“Yeah, uh- Oh! Cave!”

He hears from behind him, Hyrule’s voice having lost the supernatural ring of his more peculiar form. 

“Fucking finally,” Legend mutters, and Hyrule rolls his eyes. 

“It’s been barely ten minutes, and we’ll be inside in no time,” he offers, gently nudging his companion towards the path to the cave. They pick their way across the minefield, Legend warily balancing himself with the fire rod in one arm and their homemade torch in the other, Hyrule clutching his lantern as close as he dares. A few close calls more than he would have liked later, Legend ducks into the low cave entrance, low ceiling scraping his head and icy-slick floor threatening to send him pitching forward into the cavernous depths of the unknown inky darkness before them. 

He hesitates. 

Hyrule pushes onward. 

Lantern thrust out, Hyrule leads him further into the hollow, deeper and deeper - but also, further from the chill of the outside breeze. He eventually sits down, dropping his bags to the floor and criss-crossing to lean forward and attempt to get a fire going. 

He spares a glance to Legend once again. Standing still, eyes cast out into the glaring light. 

Hyrule squints, and turns back to his small pile of tinder. The scrounged pile of twigs isn’t much, but a few scraps of his spare tunic and an encouraging spark from his lantern coax a small flame. A small spire of orange, somehow as harsh as the glare from the light reflecting off the snow and yet as soft as the snow itself. He huddles closer to it. Legend finally sits.

He’s breathing hard, and Hyrule gives him a skeptical glance as he builds up the fire. He barely seems to notice it, as he glares into the embers, daring the jumping sparks to come closer. He’s already practically on top of it, and doesn’t flinch as Hyrule jerks back at a plume of smoke and heat, instead leaning in. He spares a disdainful glance into the cave, out to its mouth, before fixing his eyes once again on the pyre of cloth and twigs. 

Hyrule sits back, and resigns himself to the bite of the cold. The flame flickers pitifully, but at least it's better than nothing. And they’ve found shelter, that’s one less issue to worry about. 

That knowledge seems to do nothing for Legend though. If anything, he looks to be more on edge than he was outside, knees hiked up to his chin and arms curled tightly around himself. His eyes flit back and forth again and again, fingers clenched around the fire rod. 

They sit there, the tension filling the air and suffocating his questions in his throat. But they’re fine with that, he’s used to that. It’s enough, sometimes, to just… sit. Be there, together. It’s not really something he’s used to yet, but he’s getting there. And it’s nice sometimes, to not have to worry about everything being alone entails. 

It helps too, to know that they’re relatively safe. That morbidly isolationist part of himself is glad they found a place to stay like the cave, tucked away from the world and any potential dangers. And their friends… but something tells him they’ll figure it out. Maybe it’s that irrational hope that carried him through those months on the road, but it all worked out in the end. He’s here, isn’t he? So he settles himself in for a night not unlike one of those, and turns his attention to the sour slices of pain that course through his leg. 

The emptiness of his magic reserves pings back hollowly, probing for a healing spell that just isn’t there. Looks like bandages would have to do. Not that he had any. He was seriously cutting into his already limited wardrobe.

It’s another few seconds of scrounging and he’s wrapping up the wound, a small weepy thing that is just determined to ruin his day. The cold’s already aggravated however many other cuts and scars he’s carrying, and he’s the furthest from jealous of Legend’s predicament. With the wound dealt with as best he can, Hyrule sits as close to Legend as he dares and nudges his shoulder. 

Like he said, it’s enough sometimes to just sit there with someone.

“You, uh, doing good? Any closer to that thing and you might just smother it,” Hyrule laughs. He scoffs in response, but it’s a lighter tone than the ones before and a bit of the tension leaves, snaking its way out like the thin stream of smoke wisping out of the cave. 

“Just fine and dandy, you know,” he winced at an audible pop as he stretched out his back. “Creaking joints and all. You’d think I’d be used to it by now, what with all this nonsense.” 

Hyrule chuckles again, a small thing in the echo of the cave.

“What’s the Rod of Seasons?” he asks, making himself as comfortable as he can against the (near freezing) stone wall, his bag a haphazard cushion . 

“Oh, just another of those bogus magic items, you” – and he twirled his finger – “wave it around and it changes the season, a nice fuck you to the local weather patterns. Surprisingly effective, and unsurprisingly unpopular when I’ve had the fortune to use it.”

“Ah. And where was that one?” 

“Holodrum, I think - no, definitely Holodrum, a nice place all the same but absolutely no hope for their agriculture, what with idiot teenage me flitting about with _that.”_ Legend laughed. “Oh, but what I wouldn’t give for it now.” 

Hyrule hummed, “You gotta be more optimistic, it isn’t all doom and gloom. I mean, we’ve got a fire, a cave, we’ve been worse off before.” 

He smiles to himself, leaning closer towards their little heap of a fire and nudging Legend away as he continues. “Plus, it isn’t _that_ cold, you big baby.” 

Legend makes an indignant noise and knocks Hyrule back out of the way before grinning deviously. Hyrule thumps him on the shoulder in return.

“C’mon,” Hyrule cries, “you’ve got a Fire Rod and everything, you’re just _selfish._ ” 

“Selfish? I’ve been through three damn ice dungeons, I think I’ve earned my Fire Rod - thank you _very_ much,” and he snatched it back, “Besides, Magic Man, can’t you make your fire yourself.” At that Legend actually stuck his tongue out. “Lucky bastard.”

“Hey! Rude,” Hyrule said, and pulled what little he could into a few threatening sparks at his fingertips - not that that meant anything to Legend, who just laughed. “I’m all out anyway.” 

“Oh poor little ‘Rule, can’t magic himself out of his ouchies anymore. Whatever will he do.”

“Well, obviously _not_ help you find more firewood you jerk. I can handle myself just fine,” Hyrule eyed Legend’s still laughing figure and elbowed him in the side. “Have fun with your ‘aching joints’ _old man.”_

“Hey, you don’t see me stomping around in that silly plate armor, don’t go calling me old _yet._ I’m still young and scrappy.”

“Is that you, or your outfit?”

“Takes one to know one, Mister Tunic Bandage.”

“Oh, oh-kay,” Hyrule barked out a laugh, “I see how it is, Sir My-Knees-Need-To-Breathe, totally different things here, that neither of us regret.”

“Oh _absolutely,_ ” Legend said with relish as he pulled his bare knees closer to his chest. “Totally different. I have _no idea_ what you’re talking about. Perfectly fine over here, yes.” 

He winces despite the bravado, and Hyrule reaches again while he’s distracted. This time for the hat though, and he claims his trophy with a flourish as he puts it on, other hand resting on the Fire Rod as he gives it a little more juice out of sight. 

Hyrule stands and puts it on, Legend scoffing.

“I don’t know Legend, I think I look - what did you say, _scrappy?”_ That gets a laugh, and the sound echoes out of the cave with him. “T’sa Fair trade anyway, you keep your dumb Fire Rod, I like this better. Classic Link, isn’t it?” 

He digs his Flute out of his bag and makes his way to the entrance, a messy, snow-based cairn the makeshift pedestal for the marker of the cave’s entrance. It’s not snowing at the moment, so that’s in their favor.

“For once,” Legend calls when he tells him this and Hyrule gives him another glare.

“What did you say to me earlier about jinxing it,” He threw his hands up in the air. “You’re hopeless.”

And maybe it’s not a big deal in the grand scheme of things, a simple day they spend huddled away in a cave, but it’s one of laughter and camaraderie, so maybe he’s a little sad when the others do find them. Maybe it’s boring, but he can’t bring himself to care too much about that when he realizes Legend’s still missing his hat later, kitted out in part of Wild’s cold resistant stache, and he gets to plop it back down on his head with a complementary snowball.

Maybe it’s boring, maybe it’s small. But that's not what matters. 


End file.
